Apparatus for feeding hypodermic needles



7 Sheets-Sheet l w. A. SH|ELD5 APPARATUS FOR FEEDING HYPODERMIC NEEDLES May 23, 1967 Filed Sept. '7, 1965 May 23, 1967 w. A. sHlELDs APPARATUS FOR FEEDING HYPODERMIC NEEDLES 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 7, 1965 May 23, 1967 w. A. SHIELDS APPARATUS FOR FEEDING HYPODERMIC NEEDLES 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Sept. 7, 1965 OD E TL. N .C Nm nu f3) Hwv WHJ/ T 9 .un NS. .T 9 HH R E m w m m l l '7 Sheets-Sheet 4 -h u) p l l W. A. SHIELDS APPARATUS FOR FEEDING HYPODERMIC NEEDLES May 23, 1967 Filed Sept. v, 1965 INVENTOR WALTER A.S\HIELDS 4Q BY M Q.

ATTO NEY 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 May 23, 1967 w. A. SHIELDS APPARATUS FOR FEEDING HYPODERMIC NEEDLES Filed Sept. 7, 1965 May 23, 1967 w. A. SHIELDS 3,321,106

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING HYPODERMIC NEEDLES Filed Sept. 7, 1965 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 \NVENTOR WALTER A.sH|ELDs BYWMW ATTORNEY May 23, 1967 w. A. SHIELDS APPARATUS FOR FEEDING HYODERMIC NEEDLES 7 Sheets-Sheet '7 Filed Sept. 7, 1965 United States Patent O 3,321,106 APPARATUS FOR FEEDING HYPODERMIC NEEDLES Walter A. Shields, Jamaica, N.Y. (38-09 24th St., Long Island City, N.Y. 11101) Filed Sept. 7, 1965, Ser. No. 435,507 i 10 Claims. (Cl. 221--210) This invention relates to apparatus for packaging a hypodermic needle `assembled in a -ferrule and mounting member and particularly to means for successively feeding hypodermic needles to said apparatus.

It is an object of the invention to provide feeding means wherein the hypodermic needles are accurately transferred from a hopper to a plurality of mandrels vertically supported by a rotatable turret.

It is another object of the invention to provide means to transfer the hypodermc needles from a substantially horizontal position to a vertical position vby rotatably or pivotally mounting said means under spring tension whereby reciprocal movement of said transferring means from the hopper to the mandrels and from the mandrels to the hopper will rotate said transferring means.

It is a further object of the invention to feed hypo; dermic needles without injuring `their penetrating ends and without unduly bending said needles.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the detailed description of the invention.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of` this application:

FIGURE l is a top plane view of a hopper and feeding wheel forming part of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view looking at the bottom of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view. taken on the line` 3-3 of FIGURE 2 looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken on the line 4-4 of FIGURE 1 looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 5` is an elevational view of thecornplete ini vention with a major part of the hopper omitted and show# ing `means for transferring .the needles from a substantially horizontal position in the feeding wheel to a vertical position in a mandrel on a rotating turret;

FIGURE 6 is an elevational View partly in section looking in the direction of the arrows from the line 6-6 of FIGURE 5 and showing a needle being positioned in a mandrel;

FIGURE 7 is a top plan view partly in section looking in the direction of the arrows `from the line 7-7 of FIGURE 5 and showing the transferring means in the position shown in full lines in FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 8 is a sectional view, on anenlarged scal taken on the line 8-8 of FIGURE 7 looking in the direc-V tion of the arrows to show the construction-of a :mandrel with a needle positioned therein and the first step of assembling a ferrule thereon;`

FIGURE 9 is a sectional view of a modified peripheral portion of the feeding wheel; i

FIGURE 10 isa sectional View, on an enlarged scale, taken on the line iti- I0 of FIGURE 5 looking in the direction of the arrows and showin-g the purpose of canting or sloping the axis of the feeding wheel whereby only one end of the needle is subjected to frictional con-V tact;

FIGURE ll is an enlarged elevational view partly in section showing the transferring means receiving a needle from the feeding wheel and the spring tensioned rotary mounting of said transferring means; 4

FIGURE l2 is an exploded sectional View of the spring tensioned rotary mounting of the transferring means;

FIGURE 13 is a sectional view taken on the line 13-13 of FIGURE 11 looking in the direction of the arrows and showing in broken lines the manner of rotating the transferring means during its reciprocal movement and showing in full lines the transferring means actuated to its needle delivering position including a sectional view of a mandrel not shown in FIGURE l1;

ICC

FIGURE 14 is a sectional view taken on the line- 14-414 of FIGURE 11 looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 15 is a perspective view of a resilient finger carried by the transferring means for applying tension to the needle while it is transferred from the hop-per and facilitating its release from said transferring means when t-he needle has been inserted in the mandrel;

FIGURE 16 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken on the line 16-16 of FIGURE 7 looking in the direction of the arrows to show the crimping of the Vferrule on the needie subsequent to the step shown in FIGURE 8; and

FIGURE 17 is a partial sectional View of the assembled needle package.

The working parts of the invention are supported on a table 18 having a frame 19 mounted thereon, as shown in FIGURES 5, 6 and 7.

A hopper 20 is adjustably supported, as at 21 in FIGURES 2 and 4, on a bracket 22 mounted on an intermediate vertical wall 23 of the frame 19, as shown in FIGURES 1, 2 and 3. The hopper 20 is provided with a `bottom wall 24 sloping toward a front wall 25 adjustably mounted on a bracket 26 secured to a fixed side wall of the hopper 2li whereby a beveled bottom edge 27 of the front wall 25 is positioned at a desired distance from the lbottom wall 24 to form a variable feed space. The adjustable supporting means 21 is carried by the 'bottom 24. The side wall opposite the fixed side wall of the hopper 20 is provided with a flange 28 extended outwardly from the bottom edge thereof `and adjustably secured to the bottom wall 24 by bolts 29 fixed to said bottom wall and engaged in slots 30 in the flange 2S and said side wall is retained in adjusted position by wing nuts 31. The side wall having the flange 28 is adjusted toward and -away from the fixed side wall of the hopper 20 to accommodate needles n of different lengths. The width of the front wall 25 is less than minimum adjusted distance between the side walls of the :hopper 20.

A feeding wheel 32 is adjustably mounted, as at 33 in FIGURES l and 3, on a shaft 34 rotatably mounted in bearings 3S on the frame 19. The shaft 34 is retained against longitudinal movement by a collar 36. The periphery of the Wheel 32 is .provided with equidistantly spaced recesses 37 extending into the wheel at an oblique angle corresponding to the angle of slope of the bottom wall 24 so that the needles will readily enter said recesses 37, as shown in FIGURES 4 and 11. In all the views except FIGURE 9, there are shown two spaced annular rows of recesses 37 at the sides of the wheel 32 with an annular groove 38 extending between the :recesses 37 and below the bottoms of the recesses 37 for a purpose to be hereinafter described. Spaced portions of the needles n intermediate the end and center portions of said needles are supported by the bottoms of the recesses to maintain the needles in straight condition and prevent bending of the needles.

In FIGURE 9, there is shown a modified construction of the periphery of the wheel 32 wherein there is a single annular row of recesses 39 in the center of the wheel periphery with two annular grooves 40 separated from the sides of the wheel 32 by shoulders 41 having the tops in the same plane as the bottoms of the recesses 39 so that the center portions and portions adjacent the ends of the needles n are supported to maintain said needles straight and prevent bending of the needles. The recesses 39 are extended at the same oblique angle as the recesses 37.

The bottom wall 24 of the hopper 20 extends beyond the front wall 25 and the periphery of the wheel 32 travels close to the forward edge of the bottom wall 24 and in spaced relation to the front wall 25 forming a needle pick-up space 42, as shown in FIGURES 4 and ll. '.I`he oblique angle of the recesses 37 and 39 allows low pickup and eliminates chance of more than one needle belng carried out. The curvature of the wheel 32 controls the height of the needles in the pick-up space 42.

The needles n are retained against longitudinal movement in the recesses 37 and 39 by guide plates 43 extended from the side walls of the hopper 20- so that adjustment of the adjustable side wall of the hopper will correspondingly adjust the guide plate 43 extended fromhsaid adjustable side wall. The wheel 32 is provided with a two diameter hub 44 extended from the side of the wheel facing the adjustable guide plate with the larger diameter portion of the hub abutting said adjustable gulde plate and said smaller diameter portion extended through the adjustable guide plate and provided with the adjustable mounting 33. When it is desired to adjust the space between the side walls of the hopper 20, the wing nuts 31 and the set screw of the adjustable mounting 33 are loosened so that the wheel 32 and the adjustable guide plate 43 will be correspondingly adjusted with the adjustable wall of the hopper 20.

As shown in FIGURES 3 and 6, the top of the frame 19 extends obliquely toward the wheel 32 to have the shaft 34 extend at a live degree angle to the horizontal whereby the blunt ends n' of the needles n will have frictional contact with the fixed guide plate 43 and maintain the sharp or penetrating ends of the needles out of Contact with the adjustable guide plate 43 to prevent injuring said sharp or penetrating ends of the needles.

During the travel of the wheel 32 when the recesses 37 are sloping in a downward direction, the needles n are prevented from dropping out of Said recesses by curved edges of a pair of plates 45 supported in spaced relation to each other to extend over the rows of recesses 37. When the wheel 32 is arranged with the recesses 39, grooves 40 and shoulders 41, there will be only one plate 45 with the curved edge extending over the single row of recesses 39. The plate or plates 45 are supported by a bracket 46 extended laterally from the frame 19, as shown in FIGURES l and 2. The upper ends of the curved edges of the plates 45 are located substantially at the vertical center of the shaft 34 and the lower ends of said i curved edges terminate short of said vertical center to permit the needles n to drop from the recesses 37 or 39, as shown in FIGURE 11. To facilitate the removal of the needles nl from the recesses 37, there is provided a resilient finger or abutment 47 having one end secured to a bracket 48 suspended from the hopper 20. The opposite end of the finger 47 is curved upwardly into the groove 38 substantially in alignment with the Vertical center of the shaft 34, so that when a needle leaves the curved edges of the plates 45 it will drop from the recesses 37, and if for some reason it remains in said recesses, the finger 47 will kick said needle out of the recesses. When the wheel 32 is arranged with the recesses 39, grooves 40 and shoulders 41, there will be two lingers 47 extended into the grooves 40.

The wheel 32 is continuously rotated from motive means, not shown, supported by the table 18 below the top thereof. Said motive means is operatively connected to the wheel 32 by a shaft 49 rotatably supported in a bearing 50 mounted on the frame 19 with the shaft 49 extended through the table top to be connected to the motive means. The shaft 49 above the bearing 50 is connected to another shaft 51 through a universal coupling 52. The shaft 51 is supported in bearings 53 and 54 mounted on the frame 19. The portion of the shaft 51 extending above the bearing 54 is provided with a worm 55 meshing with a worm wheel 56 fixed on the shaft 34, as shown in FIGURES l, 2, 3, 5 and 6.

When a needle n leaves the recesses 37 or recess 39, it is engaged by transferring means comprising a pair of jaws 57 and '58. Jaw 57 is provided with spaced ears 59 extended from an intermediate portion of the jaw 57 and jaw 58 is pivotally supported between said ears 59 on a pintle 79. The upper end of the jaw 57 is arranged with spaced projections 60 extending alongside the sides of the jaw 58 and spaced from the clamping end of the jaw 57. The jaw 58 is provided with a notch 61 above the projections 60 so that when the clamping ends of the jaws are spaced apart, as hereinafter described, the needle will drop onto the projections 60 and when the clamping ends of the jaws are moved toward each other, the notch 61 will grip the needle and clarnp it to the jaw 57. The notch 61 is yieldingly urged into engagement with the needle by a spring 62 having the opposite ends seated in recesses 63 in the end portions of the jaws 57 and 58 opposite the end portions arranged with the projections 60 and notch 61, as shown in FIGURE ll. The needle lbeing clamped between the jaws 57 and 58 is placed under tension by a resilient finger having a lateral extension 81 at one end and fixed to the pintle 79 and secured to the jaw 57 by a screw 82, FIGURES 1l and 12. The opposite end of the linger 80 is straight to abut the needle.

The jaws 57 and 58 are rotatably mounted on a horizontal axis extending transversely of the axis of rotation of the shaft 34. This is accomplished by providing the jaw 57 with a two diameter stud 64 extended from the back of the jaw 57 in alignment with the ears 59 and the smaller diameter portion of the stud 64 rotatably mounted in a ca-p member 65 secured to and closing one side of'a housing 66 having a flange 67 mounted on a slide 68 slidable in a bearing 69 supported by a bracket 70 secured to the bottom of the frame 19, as shown in FIGURES 5, 6, 7, 1l and 12. The slide 68 is adjustably connected to a rod 71 reciprocally mounted in a bearing 72 in the top of the table 18 and reciprocated by a cam, not shown, below `said table top. The stud 64 is yieldingly urged to rotate in one direction by a spring 73 having one end fixed in a nut 74 screw-threaded on a screw-threaded boss 75 extended from the smaller diameter portion of the stud 64, as shown in FIGURES 7, 11, 12 and 14. The opposite end of the spring 73 is anchored in a plug 76 secured in the housing 66 by set-screws 98.

The spring 73 rotates the stud 64 in a direction to move a projection 77 extended from the larger diameter portion of the stud 64 into engagement with a roller 78 rotatably mounted on a lateral extension 83 of bracket 84 secured to the bracket 70, as shown in FIGURES 5, 6, 7, l1 and 13.

The reciprocation of the slide 68 will move the needle n clamped -between the jaws 57 and 58 from the horizontal position below the Wheel 32 to a vertical position in alignment with a mandrel of a plurality of mandrels 85 equidistantly spaced and slidably supported in a turret 86 fixed on a shaft 87 rotatably mounted in a bearing 88 on the top of the table 18. The turret 86 is rotatably supported Iby a bearing race 99 between the hub of the turret 86 and the bearing 88, as shown in FIGURE 5. The shaft 87 is intermittently rotated by mechanism, not shown, supported by the table 18. At the terminus of the downward movement of the slide 68, the -blunt end of the needle is inserted into a hole 89 in the mandrel positioned in vertical alignment with the descending needle, as shown in FIGURES 6, 7 and 13.

At the terminus of each reciprocal movement of the slide 68, the notched end of the jaw 58 is moved away from the end of the jaw S7 arranged with the projections 60, so that at the upper terminus of the reciprocal movement, the needle can readily drop onto the projections 60, as shown in FIGURE 11, and at the lower terminus of the reciprocal movement, the needle remains 'in the hole 89 of the mandrel 85 when the slide 68 starts its upward reciprocal movement. As noted in the `dotted line position of the resilient nger 80 in FIGURE 6, said finger facilitates the engagement and retention of the needle n in said hole 89 by the free end of said resilient finger 80 being normally spaced from the jaw y57 to support the blunt end n under tension and when the jaws 57, 58 approach the mandrel 85 the resilient linger 80 is moved toward the jaw 57 by contact with said mandrel 85 which Will relieve tension on the blunt end n and permit the needle n to readily drop into the hole 8-9.

The actuation of the jaw 58 from the jaw 57 is accomplished by a lever 90 pivotally mounted at one end on a bracket 91 supported by the frame 19 and the opposite end of the lever 90 is provided with a plate 92 depending from the lever 90 to contact a button 93 projecting from the end of the jaw 58 opposite the end arranged with the notch 61. The plate 92 is of such length to assure the contacting of the button 93 in both terminus positions of the jaws 57 and 58, as shown in FIGURES 6 and 11. The lever 90 is actuated toward the button 93 at the termini of the reciprocal movements of the slide 68 by a cam -disc 94 secured on the shaft 51 and maintained in contact with a roller 95 on an intermediate portion of the lever 90 by a spring 93 connected at one end to the lever 90 adjacent the plate 92 and the opposite end of the spring 93 anchored to the frame 19, as shown in FIG- URES 5, 6 and 7. The end portion of the lever 90 carrying the plate 92 is slida-bly supported in a bifurcation 94' in one end of an arm 95 secured at the opposite end to the frame 19.

After the needle n is inserted in the hole 89 of the mandrel 85, the needle is presented to the first operating station, section line 8-8 of FIGURE 7, and a ferrule f is slipped on the needle into a recess 96, as shown in FIGURE 8.

At the next operating station of the turret 86, section line 16--16 of FIGURE 7, the ferrule f is crimped to the needle by crimping members 97, as shown in FIG- URE 16.

Further operating stations of the turret have not been shown as they do not have a bearing on the present invention.

FIGURE 17 shows the completed needle package which is partly assembled on the turret 86 including the ferrule y' and a mounting member m secured on the ferrule. The protective caps c and p may be attached to the mounting member m by hand.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows:

The needles n are manually stacked in the hopper 20 and are successively picked-up by the recesses 37 or 39 in the continuously rotated feeding wheel 32 with the blunt ends n' having frictional contact with the fixed guide plate 43. When a needle n leaves the plate or plates 4S, it is aided by the resilient abutment 47 from the recesses 37 or 39 and drops onto the projections 60 of the jaw 57 while the jaw 58 is positioned -away from the jaw 57 by the plate 92 of the lever 90 contacting the button 93 of the jaw 58. The lever 90 is actuated toward the button 93 at the termini of the reciprocal movements of the jaws 57 and 58 by the cam disc 94. After the needle n is positioned on the projections 60, the jaws 57 and 58 are reciprocated from the feeding wheel 32 by the slide 68 and during said reciprocation, the lever 90 is actuated to position the Iplate 92 from the button 93 to permit the spring 62 to move the jaw 58 toward the jaw 57 and engage the notch 61 of the jaw 58 with the needle on the projections 60 and clamp the needle to the jaw 57. During the reciprocation of the jaws 57 and 58 from the feeding wheel 32, the jaws 57 and 58 are pivoted in the cap member 65 by the projection 77 engaging the roller 78 under the inuence of the spring 73 so that the needle n clamped between the jaws 57 and 58 is moved from the horizontal position below the wheel 32 to a vertical -position in alignment with one of the mandrels 85 on the intermittently rotated tu'rret`86. At the terminus of the downward movement of the slide 68, the blunt end n' of the needle n is inserted into a hole 89 of said mandrel and the jaw 58 is moved away from the jaw 57 by the lever 90.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In apparatus for feeding hypodermic needles, a hopper having a discharge opening, a feeding wheel rotatably mounted with the periphery of the wheel traveling past said discharge opening and said periphery arranged to successively receive and move the needles from the hopper in a substantially horizontal position, guides extended around the wheel to retain the needles in said substantially horizontal position on the periphery of the wheel and arranged with an exit, transferring means reciprocally mounted to move toward and away from the exit and rotatably mounted on an axis extending transversely of the reciprocal movement and arranged to receive a needle in a horizontal position from the exit, and means to rotate the transferring means during the reciprocal movement of said transferring means and transfer said needle from the exit in an arcuate path to a vertical position, wherein the transferring means includes a pair of clamping jaws, the first jaw being pivotally supported by the second jaw to have movement toward and away from the second jaw and yieldingly urged toward said second jaw, a lever pivotally mounted at one end on an axis extending substantially parallel to the reciprocal movements of the jaws and the opposite end of the lever arranged to engage and pivot the first jaw from the second jaw in all of the reciprocal positions of the jaws and yieldingly urged from the rst jaw, and means to intermittently actuate said lever and move the opposite end of the lever into engagement with the first jaw to open said jaws at the termini of the reciprocal movements of the jaws.

2. Apparatus for feeding hypodermic needles according to claim 1, a resilient tin-ger mounted at one end on the pivot of the rst jaw and the opposite end of the finger engaging and placing tension on the needle clamped between the jaws.

3. Apparatus for feeding hypodermic needles according to claim 1, wherein the first jaw is provided with a notch in the clamping face thereof to engage and clamp the needle to the second jaw during reciprocal movement of the jaws between the termini of said movement, and the second jaw is arranged with lateral projections on its clamping face extending below the notch in the rst jaw to support the needle when the needle leaves the wheel recess and the first jaw is pivoted from the second jaw.

4. Apparatus for feeding hypodermic needles according to claim 1, wherein the periphery of the feeding wheel is provided with equidistantly spaced recesses extending obliquely in the direction of rotation of said wheel, and the hopper is arranged with a bottom wall extended in the oblique plane of the recesses to facilitate delivery of the needles from the discharge opening to successive recesses.

5. Apparatus for feeding hypodermic needles according to claim 1, wherein the transferring means comprises a pair of jaws, the first jaw being pivotally supported by the second jaw to have movement toward and away from the second jaw and yieldingly urged toward said second jaw, a reciprocal slide rotatably supporting said second jaw on an axis transverse to the reciprocal movement of the slide, said second jaw being yieldingly urged to rotate in a predetermined direction, and the means to rotate the transferring means comprises a roller rotatable in a fixed plane and a projection extended from the second jaw to contact the roller, whereby the reciprocal movements of the slide causing rotation of the jaws from one plane to receive a needle from the wheel to a plane transverse thereto below the hopper.

6. Apparatus for feeding hypodermic needles according to claim 5, wherein the slide is lprovided with a housing, the second jaw being rotatably supported by the hous.

ing, and a spring in the housing having one end anchored to the housing and the opposite end connected to the second jaw whereby the jaws are urged in a predetermined rotary direction.

7. Apparatus for feeding hypodermic needles according to claim 1, wherein the feeding wheel is rotatable on an axis extending obliquely to the horizontal and the transferring means is rotated in an arc slightly less than ninety degrees from the wheel to a vertical position.

8. Apparatus for feeding hypodermic needles according to claim 1, wherein the axis of rotation of the transferring means extends transversely of the axis of rotation of the feeding wheel,

9. In apparatus for feeding hypodermic needles, a hopper having a discharge opening, a feeding wheel rotatably mounted on an axis extending obliquely to the horizontal with the periphery of the wheel traveling past said discharge opening and said periphery arranged to successively receive and move the needles from the hopper with the needles extending obliquely to the horizontal, guides extending around the wheel to retain the needles on the periphery of the wheel and arranged with an exit, transferring means reciprocally mounted t lmove in a vertical plane toward and away from said exit and rotatably mounted on a horizontal axis and arranged to receive a needle from the exit, means to rotate the transferring means during the reciprocation of said transferring means and transfer said needle from the exit in an arcuate path to a vertical position, and a turret rotatably mounted on an axis extending parallel to the plane of reciprocation of the transferring means and carrying equidistantly spaced mandrels extending perpendicularly to the turret and successively positioned by the rotation of the turret to receive a needle from the transferring means.

10. Apparatus for feeding hypodermic needles as claimed in claim 1, a pair of straight guide plates extended from the hopper in spaced relation to the sides of the wheel, the axis of rotation of the wheel inclining toward one of the pair of guide plates whereby only one end of the needles in the wheel recesses is subject to frictional contact.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 959,455 5/1910 Campbell 221-237 1,874,442 8/1932 Calloway 221-224 2,696,327 12/1954 -W0odruff 2121-312 2,969,892 1/1961 Sherman 221-210 3,026,003 3/1962 Edels et al. 221-237 3,206,065 9/1965 Netta 221-237 FOREIGN PATENTS 387,880 2/ 1933 Great Britain.

WALTER SOBIN, Primary Examiner. 

1. IN APPARATUS FOR FEEDING HYPODERMIC NEEDLES, A HOPPER HAVING A DISCHARGE OPENING, A FEEDING WHEEL ROTATABLY MOUNTED WITH THE PERIPHERY OF THE WHEEL TRAVELING PAST SAID DISCHARGING OPENING AND SAID PERIPHERY ARRANGED TO SUCCESSIVELY RECEIVE AND MOVE THE NEEDLES FROM THE HOPPER IN A SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL POSITION, GUIDES EXTENDED AROUND THE WHEEL TO RETAIN THE NEEDLES IN SAID SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL POSITION ON THE PERIPHERY OF THE WHEEL AND ARRANGED WITH AN EXIT, TRANSFERRING MEANS RECIPROCALLY MOUNTED TO MOVE TOWARD AND AWAT FROM THE EXIT AND ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON AN AXIS EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY OF THE RECIPROCAL MOVEMENT AND ARRANGED TO RECEIVE A NEEDLE IN A HORIZONTAL POSITION FROM THE EXIT, AND MEANS TO ROTATE THE TRANSFERRING MEANS DURING THE RECIPROCAL MOVEMENT OF SAID TRANSFERRING MEANS AND TRANSFER SAID NEEDLE FROM THE EXIT IN AN ARCUATE PATH TO A VERTICAL POSITION, WHEREIN THE TRANSFERRING MEANS INCLUDES A PAIR OF CLAMPING JAWS, THE FIRST JAW BEING PIVOTALLY SUPPORTED BY THE SECOND JAW TO HAVE MOVEMENT TOWARD AND AWAY FROM THE SECOND JAW AND YIELDINGLY URGED TOWARD SAID SECOND JAW, A LEVER PIVOTALLY MOUNTED AT ONE END ON AN AXIS EXTENDING SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO THE RECIPROCAL MOVEMENTS OF THE JAWS AND THE OPPOSITE END OF THE LEVER ARRANGED TO ENGAGE AND PIVOT THE FIRST JAW FROM THE SECOND JAW IN ALL OF THE RECIPROCAL POSITIONS OF THE JAWS AND YIELDINGLY URGED FROM THE FIRST JAW, AND MEANS TO INTERMITTENTLY ACTUATE SAID LEVER AND MOVE THE OPPOSITE END OF THE LEVER INTO ENGAGEMENT WITH THE FIRST JAW TO OPEN SAID JAWS AT THE TERMINI OF THE RECIPROCAL MOVEMENTS OF THE JAWS. 